Fire trucks will be rolling through downtown and police will be gathering down at Point Cadet Plaza on Saturday, and then on Sunday the Saenger Theatre hosts a birthday party for Hank Williams Sr.
A trio of city events is planned for this weekend: the annual Fireman’s Day Parade, the annual Biloxi Community Festival Against Crime, and “The Last Ride,” a motion picture and documentary being shown to mark the 94th anniversary of the birth of Hank Williams Sr.
Saturday begins at 10 a.m. with the Biloxi Community Festival Against Crime, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Point Cadet Plaza, 121 Cadet St. The free event, with safety tips, demonstrations, and free food, allows the public a chance to meet the city’s police officers and firefighters, and see the sophisticated equipment they use in the course of their jobs.
Among the attractions: Static display of fire trucks, and demonstrations by the city’s canine teams and bomb squad.
Meantime, also at 10 a.m., the annual Biloxi Fireman’s Day Parade begins at the foot of Lameuse Street and travels through downtown enroute to West End Hose Co. No. 3, the city’s all-volunteer fire museum, which is on Howard Avenue.
The parade, which is a tradition dating back more than 130 years, will feature two dozen firefighting vehicles from fire departments across the Coast. At the fire museum, an open house will be held, with hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and soft drinks.
Then on Sunday, the Saenger Theatre will host a gathering to celebrate the life and times of Hank Williams Sr., the legendary singer-songwriter who visited Biloxi frequently in the 1950s.
The event, a fundraiser for the Saenger restoration effort, begins at 1:30 p.m., with the cutting of Hank Williams Sr. cake, followed by the showing of a 10-minute documentary, “Ramblin’ Man,” which chronicles the singer’s visits to Biloxi, and the full-length motion picture, “The Last Ride,” the portrayal of his final three days.
Tickets to the Saenger event are $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased now at the Biloxi Visitors Center or the Donal M. Snyder Sr. Community Center on Pass Road.
See the Fireman’s Day parade route
Print a flyer for the Community Festival Against Crime
Read background on the Saenger event
See a video preview of “The Last Ride”
News and notes
Budget hearing: Want to know where and how your city tax dollars are spent? The public hearing for the city’s FY ’18 budget will be this evening at 6 at City Hall. The spending plan, which goes into effect Oct. 1, doesn’t raise the city property tax rate. To see the agenda for the hearing, click here.
Traffic, etc.: The Traffic Update page on the city’s website offers the status of roadwork throughout the city, the police department’s announced radar schedule and the street sweeping schedule for this month. To visit the page, which is updated each weekday, click here.
Vendors wanted: The City of Biloxi Parks & Recreation Department is now accepting vendor applications for its Multicultural Festival set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Biloxi Town Green. Vendors may sell food, arts, crafts, jewelry, pottery and more. To see the vendor application, click here. To see the festival flyer, click here.
The week that was: Last week the Biloxi Fire Department answered 144 calls for service, including 95 medical and four fires, the Biloxi Police Department answered 2296 calls for service and the Community Development Department issued 54 building permits with a construction valuation of nearly $275,000. New to the weekly reports is the Engineering Department’s report of projects. To see the complete reports, click here.
